Hinge and support for desk-lids.



No. 634,379. Patented Oct. 3, I899. F. W. TUBEY.

HINGE AND SUPPORT FOR DESK LIDS.

(Applicnion filed May 16, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I,

(No Model.)

VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/IIIIIIIIII WITNESSES Patented Oct. 3,1899. F. W. TOBEY. HINGE AND SUPPORT FOR DESK LIDS.

(Application filed May 16. 1899.)

2 Sheets-$heet 2 (No Model.)

WITNESSES.

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NITED STATES ATENT Fries.

HINGE AND SUPPORT FOR DESK-LIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,379, dated October 3, 1899.

Application filed May 16, 1899. Serial No. 717,060. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED IV. TOBEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at'Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented ,newand useful Improvements in Hinges and Supports for Desk- Lids, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hinged lids or doors for desks or other articles of furniture and it has for its object to provide new and improved means for connecting the lid or door with the case of the desk or other article of furniture, whereby the lid or door when closed presents no shoulders or projections and when opened to a horizontal position is firmly supported flush with a bottom wall of the case.

To accomplish this object, my invention consists in the features of construction, and in the combination or arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a detached view of the hinge-arm and its attachments, showing the position of the parts when the lid is raised to a perpendicular position. Fig. 2 shows a vertical sectional view of the desk with the lid closed, illustrating the position of the parts as the same appears on the inner side of the desk. Fig. 3 shows a sectional View similar, to the one shown in Fig. 2, but with the lid raised to a perpendicular position. Fig. at shows a sectional view with the lid open, so as to have its upper surface in the same plane with the upper surface of the desk-bottom.

Similar letters and figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A shows the case of a desk or other analogous piece of furniture.

B shows the desk-bottom.

C shows the cross piece or part of the frame, and in the example of my invention shown in the drawings it illustrates that portion of the case which comes in contact with the lower surface of the desk-lid when the lid is closed.

D shows the desk-lid.

E represents a pivoted link, the upper end pivoted at 2 to the case and the lower end pivoted at 3 to the inner or rear end of a lid supporting bar or rod F, having its outer or front end pivoted at at to a hinge-arm G, se-

cured to the lid. A plate H, resting upon the cross-piece C and firmly secured, is provided with a curved guideway composed ofa slot 6, curved upward and rearward and in which a hinge or pivot pin 5 at the lower end of the hinge-arm is adapted to move back and forth. The fixed plate H constitutes a support for the hinge-arm G, and the curved slot 6 in the plate is a means whereby the lid is bodily raised as it is swung open to elevate itslower edge and place the lid flush with the bottom B when the lid is opened to its horizontal position. The bar or rod is bent up, as at J, to place its outer or front end in proper position to rest upon a link L when the lid is opened, as in Fig. 4c. The link L is pivoted at one end to the plate H, as at 8, and at the other end to the hinge-arm G, as at 7. The hingearm, as shown, is thickened, as at I, to provide a part on which the bar or rod F also rests when the lid is opened.

The operation of myinvention is as follows: When the lidD is closed, as shown in Fig. 1, the pivot 5 is at the lower point of the slot 6. By swinging outwardly the upper part of the lid D the pin or pivot 5 passes upwardly and backwardly in the slot 6. lVhen the lid reaches a perpendicular, its position will be the same as is shown in Fig. 3. By still con tinuing the movement of the lid until it is placed in a horizontal position the pivot 5 passes to the backward part of the slot 6 and the lid D is carried in position to meet with the front edge of the desk-bottom B, as shown in Fig. 4, and the upper surface of the deskbottom B and the upper surface of the lid will then be fiush With each other or in the same plane. In the meantime the bar or rod F is moved forward and downward until the same rests upon the thickened part I of the hinge part G. The link E, standing nearly perpendicular, retains the rear end of the bar or rod F in position, and the bar or rod firmly supports the desk-lid in its horizontal position. In order that the bar or rod F may rest upon the upper surface of the hinge part G, I prefer to have the same curved slightly, as shown by J in Fig. 1.

It will be seen by this construction that when the desk-lid is closed the lower edge of the desk-lid presents no shoulder or projection, but the entire front of the article of furniture presents a smooth and iinished surface, and that as the desk-lid is opened it is automatically raised bodily,which carries the lower edge thereof upward and backward until the same meets with the front edge of the desk-bottom B, leaving the upper surface of the lid and the upper surface of the desk-bottom in the same plane.

I have referred to this device as a desk-lid hinge and support; but it will be evident that the same may be applied to doors or lids of any article of furniture where it is desirable to present a smooth and finished surface when the lid or door is closed and where it may be desirable to carry the door to a different position when the same is open.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to have invented, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

lid is bodily raised as it is swung open, a link pivoted at its upper end to the ease, and a connecting bar or red pivoted at one end to the said hinge-arm and at the other end to the lower end of said link, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a case,and a swinging lid, of a fixed hinge-arm support, having a guideway curved upward and rearward, a hinge-arm secured to the lid and having a pivot movable back and forth in said guideway, a link pivoted to the hinge-arm and to said support, a link pivotally suspended at its upper end from the ease, and a connecting bar or rod pivoted at one end to said hingearm and at the other end to the lower end 1 of the suspended link, substantially as de- 1. The combination with a case having a t lid as they are swung open, to bodily raise the lid and place it flush with said bottom bottom, and a swinging lid, of a hinge-arm secured to the lid, a support to which the hingearm is pivotally connected, having means for bodily raising the hinge-arm and lid to clevate the lower edge of the latter as the lid is swungopen to a horizontal position and thereby place the lid flush with said bottom of the case, and devices for supporting the lid in its horizontal position flush with the bottom of the ease, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a case, and a swinging lid, of a fixed hinge-arm support having a curved guideway, a hinge-arm secured to the lid and having a pivot movable back and forth in said curved guideway, whereby the I scribed.

4. The combination with a case having a bottom wall, and a swinging lid, of a hingearm secured to the lid, a support to which the hinge arm is pivotally connected, having means for bodily raising the hinge-arm and Wall when said lid is horizontal, a link pivotally suspended from the case, and a connecting baror rod pivoted at one end to said hingearm and at the other end to said pivotallysuspended link, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED W. TOBEY.

\Vitnesses:

EDWARD TAcoARr, DORA B. PARKER. 

